What are Bloaters in The Last of Us?

While most of the time, you will see running infected and Clickers as the main threats in The Last of Us, there is a further evolution that should scare you even more than them. These creatures are called Bloaters, and if you have just finished episode five of the first season of The Last of Us, you may be wondering what it is. These giant balls of fungus are a real threat to deal with. Here is what you need to know about Bloaters in The Last of Us show.

Related: What are the infected stages in The Last of Us show?

What was that giant infected in The Last of Us episode five?

That giant, tanking infected that came out and ripped Perry’s jaw apart in The Last of Us is called a Bloater. A Bloater is essentially the fourth stage of infection that a person in The Last of Us series goes through after they are infected with the Cordyceps Brain Infection for years. After the infection has sprouted out from the brain and covered the eyes, the fungus moves across the body, essentially creating armor for the Bloater. This makes them slow-moving but incredibly resilient (except to fire) and very strong.

Compared to Clickers, Bloaters don’t have as good of echolocation to find living beings in front of them. In the game, they can rip spores off of themselves and throw them at people to instantly infect them. However, spores have been removed with the show, so that is no longer a part of their arsenal. As of this writing, we have only seen one Bloater come out during episode five, and all he did was walk forward and kill Perry. It is almost assured that we will see more Bloaters in the future and see if they were given any new special ability in the show.

Who plays The Bloater in HBO’s The Last of Us?

The Bloater seen in The Last of Us is played by a veteran stunt performer by the name of Adam Basil. He has done stunt work in numerous big productions for series and movies including No Time to Die, Venom: Let There be Carnage, Game of Thrones, and Justice League.

Since his first appearance as The Bloater, Basil has caught the internet’s attention as “the big daddy mushroom.” The horrifying creature is being considered a sex icon, and now that they’ve seen this 6’6 man covered in fungus, they are highly attracted to the photos of him out of the suit in the wild.